SB-2K16!

Happy Monday! I just returned to chilly Michigan from a week in sunny Florida and I must say my mind and my body is having a hard time adjusting today.  I am trying to be super productive, but according to my last week's beach schedule, it's 5:00 somewhere and I'm supposed to be at happy hour with friends in the sand! :)

In spite of spring's late arrival to the cold windy mitten, I am happy to be home and have lined up all kinds of projects and new clients which is always rejuvenating for me. 

Here are a few snapshots of the last spring break our family will have together as this Senior trip marked Kennedy's last spring vacation with us before she starts college out in Azusa California in the fall. 

(Don't get me going...I already cried twice today about it). 

We strongly sense this is God's will for her but that doesn't make good-bye any easier....it does in the sense that we feel at peace about it, but it doesn't, in the sense, we are grieving the end of a precious season we had together in life.

Many of you have done this before, and I know I will survive it!

Brecken, her best friend, Emerson and Kennedy

 Here they are again, somewhere near Tennessee where I made them take cover in a rest area after our phones alerted us to a tornado warning. Can you tell, they are NOT too happy with me. 

We finally made it after driving through the night in some torrential rainstorms and lots of weather alerts to danger. 

 It was well worth it to find our rental cottage just as charming as it was presented in pics.
We rented through "Home Away" and I highly recommend "The Blue Water Cottage" in Madeira Beach. The owner didn't miss a trick. It was fully stocked and furnished with everything you could need for a week on the beach. I couldn't resist showing you the small, but quaint, darling rooms and decor.

 This table was a brilliant idea. It was the perfect scale for this side of the kitchen and made of a resin type of material that held up under lots of use!

 Decent sized living area with flat screen and lots of natural light which I loved!

 This was the front porch that we transitioned into Brecken and Emmy's bedroom for the week. Pull out sofa bed and lots of space for them to spread out their junk! I didn't capture a pic of it, but the opposite wall had a console with another flat screen tv!

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The artwork was so beachy, but not in a cheesy Florida condo kind of way! (you know what I mean):)

This storage ottoman seemed risky for a rental (made of a linen fabric with lots of tufting for sand and dirt to sit) but we took good care of it and it stored lots of extra blankets and sheets. You could tell the built in's were original. The owner said this place was nearly a tear down but they rescued it last year and gutted most of it to begin again.

 Our bedroom with king sized bed, which was so comfortable that coming home to my own was nearly torture! I will be going out to Target this week to buy a new pillow topper for my own king. 

 This was the one draw back-a tiny bath for four girls and one dad to share. :) Marble topped counter wasn't the smartest choice in my book either-up close you could see water rings from where former renters left drinking cups and toothpaste marks. 

 The galley kitchen was super spacious and even came equipped with a washer and dryer!

When we weren't spending time in the beach house, 

 We did lots of this:

 and this:

And this: (yes, that's a virgin Pina Colada)! 

And this: Eating seafood and enjoying lots of water views:

 and this: 
(lots of bonding time in the silver mini-van!)

 All in all, it was a great way to celebrate the beginning of the end of the 'family years' for us. Next up, trying to plan Kennedy's open house for the end of May without Ken and I killing each other over home improvement projects that need to be addressed before then. 
Stay tuned. :)